Star Wars Episode VIII Pushed Back

The inevitable has happened! Star Wars Episode VIII has been pushed from its May 26, 2017 release date, to December 15, 2017. This should really come as no surprise to fans. Star Wars: The Force Awakens destroyed film records as the first Star Wars film to debut in a December time slot, leading Disney to realize that it had a mega hit in its pocket for many Decembers to come.

Here is the official statement from Lucasfilm…

Star Wars: Episode VIII, originally scheduled for release on May 26, 2017, will now debut on December 15, 2017. The move follows the extraordinary success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which was the first Star Wars movie to premiere in December. In the popular holiday moviegoing corridor, it smashed numerous records, including biggest domestic and global debuts of all time as well as the biggest domestic second and third weekends, en route to becoming the highest grossing domestic release of all time with over $861M and the third biggest global release ever with $1.887B.

While this news might be disappointing for some fans, it can only mean more time for the development of Episode VIII

A Star Wars fan since 1978, he has a passion for all things Star Wars and wonders why May the 4th is not a national holiday. He lives in the wastelands of middle Georgia with his wife, two girls, and two dogs.